Sermon for Saints Peter and Paul (2025): God’s People Need Shepherds

Saints Peter and Paul: God’s People Need Shepherds

2 Timothy 4:1-8; John 21:15-19

The Reverend Paul D. Allick, The Church of the Advent, June 29, 2025

Today we remember Saints Peter and Paul, the two greatest

Shepherds of the Christian Faith.

Scripture is clear: God’s people need shepherds. Not kings, not

great rulers. God tried to talk Israel out of having kings.

God’s people need shepherds. This message is repeated

throughout the Salvation Narrative.

From the famous Psalm 23, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not

want.”

To the word spoken to the prophets, such as Jeremiah, “I will give

them shepherds after my own heart who will lead them in

knowledge and understanding.” (Jer. 3)

Culminating with God Incarnate coming to dwell with us, “I am the

good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the

sheep.” (John 10:11)

Jesus Christ is the only Shepherd will ever ultimately need but

God also sends his people earthly Shepherds. And the greatest

shepherds have always had help.

As when God anoints the 70 Elders to assist Moses. (Numbers 11)

Jesus had co-shepherds in his ministry. He calls the 12 Apostles

and then sends out the 70 disciples. They are not sent to hand

out pamphlets about Jesus, but to fully participate in his mission

to heal the sick, cast out demons, and to proclaim the arrival of

the Kingdom.

In our Catholic Tradition we have Bishops and Priests to shepherd

us. And I would add that Deacons also shepherd us as they bring

the Church to the world and the world to the Church. And we have

lay shepherds, our elected leaders and the heads of our guilds.

Our musicians are also important shepherds for us.

We need shepherds of all kinds. We need a diversity of

charisms, not uniformity.

Peter and Paul could not have been different. Talk about a

diversity of charisms!

Paul was an intellectual, a skilled debater. He made his living

making tents. He was single.

Peter was married. He was not an intellectual. He made his

living catching fish.

Paul began as a skilled and lethal prosecutor of the Faith. But

once God knocked him to the ground, Paul never looked back.

Peter is famous for turning back. At one point he is following

Jesus out onto the water, the next he is sinking. And his three

denials in the Courtyard.

Can you imagine the intensity of the first meeting between

these two? Paul advocating for the “worldly” Gentiles while

Peter is meticulously setting up the Headquarters?

Anglican Priest and Writer, Herbert O’Driscoll wrote:

“we can imagine the intensity of their disagreement over

eating with Gentiles! Who knows what went on between

them as they hammered out their response to the challenges

presented by the first council of Jerusalem? Yet, at the end

of the day, the instinctive conservatism of the one met the

far-seeing vision and boundless energy of the other to rocket

the news of their Lord from one end of that empire to the

other.”

Despite their differences, their common purpose was so vital

that they gave their lives for it. Even before their Martyrdom,

they had already given up all the comforts and certainties of

their lives to serve Christ and his Church.

Paul exhorts Timothy to shepherd as he does: to convince,

rebuke, and encourage. To persistently proclaim the message,

whether the time is favorable or unfavorable. To endure suffering.

On the other hand, we hear in the Gospel of John that Peter is

called to intense pastoral work. Three times he must painstakingly

renounce his three denials and pledge his love for Jesus and

follow his command to feed and tend his flock.

In the ministries of Paul and Peter, we are reminded that

Christian Shepherding is not about being popular or having all

the answers. It is about being faithful to THE Shepherd.

The work of the Christian Shepherd, lay or ordained, is about

the Eternal Truth of the Gospel. It is not welded to our

temporal attitudes and agendas.

Christian Shepherds serve to rebuke, convince, encourage,

and to care deeply and generously for the Sheep. And in the

end, we will receive the crown of righteousness, but even that

will most likely not be what we expect.

With Peter and Paul, we will learn to follow where Christ leads

the flock not where we are convinced they ought to go.

So let us tonight ask for Paul’s and Peter’s prayers as we

endeavor to continue the good work they have begun and to

protect the foundation they have laid for us.

Reference to O’Driscoll:

From For All the Saints: Homilies for Saints’ and Holy Days by Herbert O’Driscoll

(Cambridge, Mass.: Cowley Publications, 1995).

Reprinted in Speaking to the Soul: Daily Readings for the Christian Year by Vicki K.

Black, Morehouse Publishing 2009 pp. 153-154